Leymah Gbowee

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Leymah Gbowee
BornLeymah Roberta Gbowee
1 2, 1972
BirthplaceCentral Liberia
NationalityLiberian
OccupationPeace activist
Known forWomen of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, Pray the Devil Back to Hell
EducationMA in Conflict Transformation, Eastern Mennonite University
AwardsNobel Peace Prize (2011)

Leymah Roberta Gbowee (born 1 February 1972) is a Liberian peace activist who led the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, a nonviolent movement that brought together Christian and Muslim women in a campaign to end the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Through organized prayer vigils, sit-ins, and direct confrontation with warring factions, Gbowee and the women she mobilized applied sustained pressure on political and military leaders, contributing to the conclusion of the conflict and the restoration of peace in Liberia. Her work helped create the conditions for a free presidential election in 2005, which was won by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who became Africa's first elected female head of state. In 2011, Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Sirleaf and Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."[1] Her story was documented in the acclaimed film Pray the Devil Back to Hell and in her memoir Mighty Be Our Powers. Gbowee has continued her advocacy through public speaking, organizational leadership, and, most recently, the co-authorship of a children's book with feminist writer Gloria Steinem.[2]

Early Life

Leymah Roberta Gbowee was born on 1 February 1972 in central Liberia.[3] She grew up in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, where her family had relocated. Her upbringing was disrupted by the outbreak of the First Liberian Civil War in 1989, which brought widespread devastation to the country. The conflict, which lasted until 1997, had a profound impact on Gbowee's formative years. As a teenager, she experienced the violence and displacement that affected hundreds of thousands of Liberians during this period.[4]

The years of civil war left Gbowee, like many young Liberians, traumatized and struggling. She has spoken publicly about the personal toll the conflict took, including her experience in an abusive relationship during the war years. These personal hardships, combined with her direct exposure to the suffering inflicted upon Liberian civilians — particularly women and children — shaped her determination to work toward peace and social change.[5]

Gbowee became a young mother during the conflict and faced the challenges of raising children amid ongoing instability. Her experiences during the civil war period motivated her to pursue training in social work and trauma counseling, which would later form the professional foundation for her peace activism.[4]

Education

Gbowee earned an Associate of Arts degree in social work from the Mother Patern College of Health Sciences in Monrovia, Liberia.[6] This training equipped her with skills in trauma healing and counseling that proved instrumental in her subsequent work with women affected by Liberia's civil wars. She trained as a social worker and trauma counselor, working with former child soldiers and other victims of the conflict.[5]

Gbowee later pursued graduate education in the United States, earning a Master of Arts degree in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.[6] The program at EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding provided her with a formal academic framework for the grassroots peace-building work she had already been practicing in Liberia. Her education combined practical field experience with theoretical knowledge of nonviolent conflict resolution, mediation, and reconciliation processes.

Career

Early Social Work and Trauma Counseling

Gbowee began her professional career in the late 1990s as a social worker and trauma counselor working with former child soldiers in Liberia.[5] This work, conducted during and after the First Liberian Civil War, brought her into direct contact with the devastating human consequences of armed conflict. Through her counseling work, she gained an intimate understanding of how war affected communities, families, and individuals — particularly women and children who bore a disproportionate share of the suffering.[4]

Her work in trauma healing led her to become involved with the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), where she served as a coordinator. Through WANEP, Gbowee developed connections with other peace activists across the region and gained organizational experience that would prove valuable in her later mobilization efforts.[7]

During this period, Gbowee also became involved with the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), a program of WANEP focused specifically on engaging women in peace processes across West Africa. She eventually became the coordinator of WIPNET's Liberia chapter, a position that placed her at the nexus of women's organizing and peace advocacy in the country.[7]

Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace

By 2002, Liberia was engulfed in the Second Liberian Civil War, which had begun in 1999. The conflict between the government of President Charles Taylor and rebel groups had caused massive civilian casualties, displacement, and suffering. It was in this context that Gbowee organized and led the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, a movement that would become her most significant contribution to peace-building.[1]

The movement began with Gbowee mobilizing women in Monrovia for daily prayer sessions and nonviolent protests. A critical element of the campaign was its deliberate bridging of religious divisions: Gbowee, a Christian, worked alongside Muslim women to present a united front demanding peace.[8] The women, dressed in white T-shirts to symbolize peace, gathered at a fish market in Monrovia and along roadsides, staging sit-ins and prayer vigils that drew increasing attention.[3]

The movement employed several tactics to exert pressure on the warring parties. The women confronted President Charles Taylor directly, demanding that he attend peace talks. When formal negotiations began in Accra, Ghana, Gbowee and a delegation of women traveled to Ghana to maintain pressure on the negotiators. At one point, when the peace talks stalled, the women blockaded the entrance to the negotiation hall, refusing to allow the delegates to leave until progress was made.[3] Gbowee famously threatened to disrobe — an act carrying significant cultural weight in West African societies — if the men did not resume serious negotiations.[9]

The sustained pressure from the women's movement, combined with international diplomatic efforts, contributed to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Accra in August 2003, which ended the Second Liberian Civil War. Charles Taylor was forced into exile in Nigeria. The peace enabled the holding of democratic elections in 2005, in which Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president, becoming the first woman elected as a head of state in Africa.[1]

The Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace demonstrated the power of organized, nonviolent civilian action in resolving armed conflict. The movement's success in crossing religious, ethnic, and class lines to present a unified demand for peace has been studied as a model for women's participation in peace processes worldwide.[8]

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Gbowee's role in the Liberian peace movement was documented in the 2008 film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. The documentary chronicled the women's peace movement and Gbowee's leadership within it, bringing international attention to the story of how ordinary Liberian women helped end a devastating civil war.[10] The film screened at numerous international festivals and helped raise Gbowee's profile as a peace activist on the global stage.

Continued Activism and Organizational Leadership

Following the end of the Liberian civil war, Gbowee continued her peace advocacy and expanded her work to address broader issues of women's rights, education, and social justice in Africa and beyond. She served as an ambassador for Oxfam, lending her voice and credibility to the organization's campaigns on poverty, inequality, and conflict-related issues.[11]

Gbowee established the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, which works to provide educational opportunities for women and girls in Liberia and other parts of West Africa. The foundation has administered scholarship programs, including a reported US$50,000 scholarship initiative for Liberian women.[12]

She was appointed a Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice at Barnard College in New York City, where she engaged with students and faculty on issues related to peace-building, women's rights, and social change.[13]

Gbowee has also been involved in peace efforts beyond Liberia. In 2016, she participated in a women's peace march in Israel, in which participants walked from the Lebanese border to Jerusalem to advocate for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[14]

Public Speaking and Writing

Gbowee has been active as a public speaker, delivering lectures and addresses at universities, conferences, and international forums. In September 2025, she delivered a lecture titled "How to End a War" at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, sharing her experiences and insights on nonviolent conflict resolution.[15]

In January 2026, Gbowee met with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Drepung Gomang Monastery, a meeting between two Nobel Peace Prize laureates that reflected Gbowee's continued standing within the international peace community.[16]

Gbowee is the author of Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War (2011), a memoir that recounts her personal journey and her role in the Liberian peace movement. In 2026, she co-authored a children's picture book, Rise, Girl, Rise, with Gloria Steinem, described as a collaboration between two longtime friends who share a commitment to women's empowerment and girls' education.[17][18]

She has also contributed opinion writing and commentary, including as a contributor to The Daily Beast.[19]

Personal Life

Gbowee has spoken publicly about the personal hardships she experienced during Liberia's civil wars, including her experience in an abusive relationship and the challenges of raising children during wartime. She has described how these personal experiences deepened her commitment to peace activism and women's rights.[4] Gbowee has been open about the trauma she endured and the role that faith and community played in her recovery and her subsequent mobilization work.

She has maintained a friendship with Gloria Steinem, with whom she collaborated on the 2026 children's book Rise, Girl, Rise.[17] Gbowee has resided in both Liberia and the United States at various points in her career.

Recognition

Nobel Peace Prize

On 7 October 2011, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Gbowee had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. The committee cited the three women "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."[1] Gbowee was recognized specifically for her role in mobilizing and organizing women across ethnic and religious lines to bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War. The award brought international recognition to the Liberian women's peace movement and highlighted the role of women in conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction.

Other Awards and Honors

Gbowee has received numerous other awards and honors for her peace activism. She was awarded the Gruber Prize for Women's Rights by the Gruber Foundation in recognition of her contributions to advancing women's participation in peace processes.[6]

She was named a Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice at Barnard College, reflecting the academic and institutional recognition of her work.[20] She has also served as an Oxfam ambassador, a role that recognized her advocacy on issues of global poverty and inequality.[21]

Gbowee has been profiled and featured by numerous media outlets, including CNN and The Daily Beast, which described her as a central figure in the Liberian women's peace movement.[22]

Legacy

Gbowee's leadership of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace has been cited as one of the most significant examples of women's nonviolent collective action in modern history. The movement demonstrated that civilian women, organized across religious and ethnic lines, could exert meaningful pressure on armed combatants and political leaders to end a civil war. The success of the Liberian women's movement has been studied in academic and policy contexts as a case study in women's participation in peace processes and in the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance.[8]

The documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell brought the story of the Liberian women's movement to an international audience and has been used as an educational tool in peace studies and women's studies programs around the world.[10] Gbowee's memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers, further contributed to the documentation of this history and provided a personal account of how grassroots organizing can achieve results in seemingly intractable conflict situations.

Gbowee's work has influenced discussions about the role of women in peace and security at the international level. The recognition she received through the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 reinforced the importance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for women's participation in all aspects of peace and security decision-making. Her example has been invoked by peace activists and women's rights advocates in numerous countries facing armed conflict.[1]

Through the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, she has sought to translate her peace-building legacy into tangible opportunities for the next generation of Liberian women through education and empowerment programs.[23] Her continued public engagement, including her 2026 collaboration with Gloria Steinem on Rise, Girl, Rise and her meeting with the Dalai Lama, reflects an ongoing commitment to advocacy that extends beyond the Liberian context to encompass global issues of peace, justice, and women's empowerment.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "The Nobel Peace Prize 2011".Nobel Prize.https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/press.html.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  2. ↑ "'Rise, Girl, Rise': Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee team up for picture book".WBUR.2026-02-10.https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/02/10/rise-girl-rise-gloria-steinem-leymah-gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Leymah Gbowee | Biography, Nobel Prize, Foundation, Accomplishments, & Facts".Encyclopædia Britannica.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leymah-Gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Leymah Gbowee Biography".Peace Prize Forum.http://www.peaceprizeforum.org/gbowee_biography.html.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Leymah Gbowee".Hunt Alternatives Fund.https://web.archive.org/web/20111001201036/http://www.huntalternatives.org/pages/7352_leymah_gbowee.cfm.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Leymah Gbowee — Gruber Prize for Women's Rights".The Gruber Foundation.http://www.gruberprizes.org/GruberPrizes/WomensRights_LaureateBio.php?id=86&awardid=53.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Leymah Roberta Gbowee".Women Peace and Security.https://web.archive.org/web/20111030031915/http://womenpeacesecurity.org/programs-events/peacebuilders/leymah_roberta_gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "How to End a War: A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee".Utah State University.2025-09-25.https://www.usu.edu/calendar/?day=2025/9/25&id=96233.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  9. ↑ "Africa's women fight for peace".CNN.2009-10-30.http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/30/africa.women/.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Leymah Gbowee: Peace warrior for Liberia".Ode Magazine.https://web.archive.org/web/20091227090728/http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/readers_blog/9001/leymah_gbowee_peace_warrior_for_liberia.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  11. ↑ "Leymah Gbowee — Oxfam Ambassador".Oxfam International.http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/ambassadors/leymah-gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  12. ↑ "US$50,000 Scholarship for Liberian Women – Gbowee Foundation Discloses".Liberian Observer.http://www.liberianobserver.com/index.php/news/item/1972-us$50000-scholarship-for-liberian-women-gbowee-foundation-discloses.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  13. ↑ "Barnard Welcomes Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee as Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice".Barnard College.http://barnard.edu/news/barnard-welcomes-nobel-laureate-leymah-gbowee-distinguished-fellow-social-justice.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  14. ↑ "These Israeli women marched from the Lebanese border to Jerusalem. Here's why.".The Washington Post.2016-10-19.https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/these-israeli-women-marched-from-the-lebanese-border-to-jerusalem-heres-why/2016/10/19/a9b67618-b92c-4c7a-9ad8-d992477e7db1_story.html.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  15. ↑ "Nobel Peace Prize Winner to Speak at USU".Utah State University.2025-09-10.https://www.usu.edu/today/story/nobel-peace-prize-winner-to-speak-at-usu.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  16. ↑ "His Holiness's Meeting with Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee".The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama.https://www.dalailama.com/videos/his-holinesss-meeting-with-nobel-peace-laureate-leymah-gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "'Rise, Girl, Rise': Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee team up for picture book".WBUR.2026-02-10.https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/02/10/rise-girl-rise-gloria-steinem-leymah-gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  18. ↑ "Gloria Steinem and Leymah Gbowee on "Rise, Girl, Rise"".WAMC.2026-02-12.https://www.wamc.org/show/51/2026-02-12/gloria-steinem-and-leymah-gbowee-on-rise-girl-rise.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  19. ↑ "Leymah Gbowee — The Daily Beast".The Daily Beast.https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/leymah-gbowee.html.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  20. ↑ "Barnard Welcomes Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee as Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice".Barnard College.http://barnard.edu/news/barnard-welcomes-nobel-laureate-leymah-gbowee-distinguished-fellow-social-justice.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  21. ↑ "Leymah Gbowee — Oxfam Ambassador".Oxfam International.http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/ambassadors/leymah-gbowee.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  22. ↑ "Leymah Gbowee Wins Nobel Peace Prize".The Daily Beast.https://www.thedailybeast.com/leymah-gbowee-wins-nobel-peace-prize.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  23. ↑ "US$50,000 Scholarship for Liberian Women – Gbowee Foundation Discloses".Liberian Observer.http://www.liberianobserver.com/index.php/news/item/1972-us$50000-scholarship-for-liberian-women-gbowee-foundation-discloses.Retrieved 2026-02-24.

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